Students To A Certain Point Of View example essay topic

Students attend colleges and universities in order to gain a better education and to further pursue their career goals. Colleges and universities are places where students come to explore their intelligence and individuality without the restraints of previous learning facilities they may have attended. Each student enters with his own comprehensive knowledge and identity, without being told what to think, read, or write. However, the university requires that all students think, read, and write from an academic point of view. Such a requirement can be seen as beneficial because of the fact that it encourages students to gain a better understanding of academics, as seen by Martin Luther King, Jr.'s idea that it "enables a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life", (356). Although that may be the case, the bigger picture allows us to see that it is not empowering but largely restrictive.

It limits any intellectual or creative growth and also asks more of students than they are prepared to give, since "students [are] coming to college with limited exposure to certain kinds of writing and reading-and with conceptions and beliefs that were dissonant with those in the lower-division curriculum they encountered", (297), as Mike Rose stated in his paper about unprepared students who were coming to colleges and universities without an understanding of critical literacy. To be creative is to think with an open mind without any inhibitions. Creativity lets one understand the world around on self because it doesn't limit one to a certain viewpoint. Requiring all students to think, read, and write from an academic point of view doesn't allow for any creativity because it asks for specific thoughts and ideas that are not generally a first instinct. The best way for someone to learn is to let them relate the way they view something to what is being taught. Every person is different and should be handled accordingly to their needs because students can't all be expected of the same thing.

Mike Rose wrote in his paper "The Politics of Remediation" that "students were coming to college with limited exposure to certain kinds of writing and reading", (297). However, forcing them to all think from the same point of view is not going to solve that problem. Requiring students to think from only one point of view is going to limit any growth of intelligence. All students who attend colleges and universities are smart otherwise they would not be attending such institutions of higher education.

Limiting students to a certain academic of view can make them feel like they are below standards, thus making them perform even more poorly due to the belief that they can never achieve what is required of them. Colleges and universities fail to see that all students have different skills and cannot be all asked to think from the same point of view. Each student incorporates their own knowledge and what they know into their work. They cannot be asked to all think the same point of view and produce the same material because it does not broaden their intellect. He also said that teachers should "welcome certain kinds of errors, make allowance for them in the curricula we develop, analyze rather than simply criticize them", (298). Rose understands that merely telling students that they are wrong is not going to teach them anything.

It is the obligation of colleges and universities to meet the needs of their students and help them out in areas where they need it. It is also not enough to just teach a student. Professors shouldn't just pack all the information into their students and trust that they are going to benefit from the experience. Now is the time for professors to understand their students and where they come from, so as to better equip them to venture out into the world.

Teachers hold a responsibility to prepare their students and shape them into people that will better society. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated in his paper "The Purpose of Education", that "the complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate". He is stating the fact that it is not enough to teach students the same thing and to require them to think the same thing. He believes education is so much more than limiting students to a certain point of view. The best way to teach a student is to understand their scope of how they view the world in order to better assess knowledge that cannot be given in any academic form. It is not a measure of a student's intelligence to all think the same way.

I myself struggle with writing from an academic point of view simply because it challenges my individuality. Education is better achieved when I view school from a non academic perspective. It helps me to understand what is really important, and that is gaining knowledge that a school cannot simply hand to me. Requiring a student to take certain classes to test their intelligence merely insults it.

Although breadth requirements help build a basic foundation for an understanding of academics, it usually just gets in the way of pursuing other areas of education. It is a restraint on students that, for example, want to pursue acting but cannot do so without first taking a writing class that may or may not prohibit them from doing so. I am a good writer, but I have to be able to relate to a subject in order to write passionately and freely about it. I cannot be given an assignment on something I don't care for and be expected to write a 4 page essay on whether or not I agree with what the author is saying.

I am not a student that does what is asked of me just because it is required. Most students need to feel the concept in their own mind before being asked to view everything from the same point of view. Students all come with a different face, a different mind, and a different attitude. The measure of a good education is whether or not a teacher can successfully assess each individual and prepare them with enough information to maneuver the world and reach their goals. Education is a key factor in the development and shaping of the students that will soon become the future. It should remain open-ended instead of restricting because the mind learns best when it is exposed.

Students cannot fully achieve their goals with the weight of an academic point of view hanging onto them. It is better to access each student of his capabilities in order to better accommodate his needs and flourish his mind rather than ask him to think from the same way that all his peers do. Learning is at its best when minds are challenged and stimulated, not when asked to reach a certain standard.